Kyoto Solo Day Trip 1st part: Ginkakuji & other City Parks

5th day of my 1st visit to the Land of the Rising Sun, where tourism has a concept of "history meets the modern technology". At first my plan was to navigate Kyoto using private trains because I don't have much resources how to do it on cheapest way. But during my strolling inside the Kyoto station, I was surprise a one-day bus unlimited pass is offered for only 500yen ($5). On that moment, I immediately walked to the bus station where the signs direct to the famous toursit destination I am planning to visit. After I saw the bus station, I asked one local tourist where can I avail the bus pass. He said it was just on the tourism office 10 meters away. I went there paying the 500yen in cash together with a free english colorful city map. Around 0800H, I started the one-day city tour.Kyoto was the capital of Japan for over a millennium and carries a reputation as its most beautiful city. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan for more than one thousand years, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. Kyoto is vast in terms of its rich cultural heritage - the material endowment of over a thousand years as the country's imperial capital.http://wikitravel.org/en/Kyoto

Ginkakuji (Temple of Silver Pavillion)

Kyoto city bus day-pass

map route going to Ginkakuji

Ginkakuji Temple, a Zen Temple, was established in 1482 by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the 8th Shogunate. Yoshimasa, following Kinkakuji Temple Kitayama den built by his grandfather Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, built Villa Higashiyama den to spend his retired life. Ginkakuji is the common name, and formally it was called Higashiyama Jishoji. Ginkaku-ji ("Temple of the Silver Pavilion"), officially named Jishō-ji ("Temple of Shining Mercy"), is a Zen temple in the Sakyo ward of Kyoto, Japan. It is one of the constructions that represent the Higashiyama Culture of Muromachi period. The Philosopher's Walk (Path of Philosophy) is a pedestrian path that follows a cherry-tree-lined canal in Kyoto, between Ginkaku-ji and Nanzen-ji. The route is so-named because the influential 20th-century Japanese philosopher and Kyoto University professor Nishida Kitaro is thought to have used it for daily meditation. It passes a number of temples and shrines such as Hōnen-in, Ōtoyo Shrine, and Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji. The Kyoto Imperial Palace is the former ruling palace of the Emperor of Japan.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_Walk